Posts Tagged ‘Tang’

We were in Saratoga last Wednesday for a meeting and decided to stop by the Tang Museum to see what’s new and get fresh dose of inspiration. Here’s what caught our eye:

Type A: Barrier

Walking into the atrium, we were immediately annoyed by Type A’s Barrier installation, which is precisely the point. It’s in the way. It impedes the view. You have to walk around it. Post-911, concrete barriers are ubiquitous; these barriers, gracefully arching, as smooth as marble and beautifully made, force the viewer’s attention both to their physical presence and their space-controlling function.

Annea Lockwood was born nearly 9,000 miles away in New Zealand, but she is on more intimate terms with the Hudson River than most of us who have lived near its banks for our entire lives.

During 1980 and 1981, composer and sound artist Lockwood explored the length of the Hudson, stopping at 15 different sites along the river to collect tape-recorded sound samples of the water. Commissioned by the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, she wove the recordings together into a captivating two-hour audio installation, “A Sound Map of the Hudson River,” which became part of the museum’s permanent “Riverama” exhibit in 2003.

A condensed, 72-minute version of the installation has also been issued on compact disc by the adventurous, NYC-based new-music label, Lovely Music, Ltd.

Fans will have two opportunities this weekend to catch the old-timey quartet Red Hen in action.

At 7pm Friday, August 7, the band will take to the roof of Skidmore College’s Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs, as part of the ongoing free Upbeat on the roof concert series. Bandmembers Jane Rothfield, Allan Carr, Dave Kiphuth and Linda Schrade are all well-known regional performers who perform frequently in a variety of solo, duo and group settings.

Then on Sunday, August 9, Mona Golub and the fine folks at the Music Haven in Schenectady’s Central Park have something special cooked up.

Literally.

Instead of the usual 7pm starting time for the concerts in the free weekly series, Sunday’s bash kicks off early – 5:30pm. The roots-oriented acoustic music for the evening will feature a round-up of some of Nippertown’s best – John Kirk and Trish Miller with Ed Lowman and friends, the Stillhouse Rounders, the Whippersnappers and headliners Red Hen.

But wait, there’s more…

Art Night Schenectady is the third-Friday-of the-month arts walk in Schenectady, but you don’t have to wait til August 21 this month, as painters, sculptors and visual artists of all stripes will be displaying their art works in the park.

And to wrap up the triple-threat evening into one great big complete package, the folks from Homestyle Catering will be on hand serving up mouth-watering barbecue.

The Red Haired Strangers started out more than a decade and a half ago as the acoustic duo of harmonicat-vocalist Ryan Dunham and guitarist-vocalist John Rice, playing a variety of country, blues and bluegrass.

In recent years, they’ve expanded into a full-fledged band that also includes ace fiddler Joe Gumpper, drummer Chris Scharl, bassist Mike McLean and veteran pedal steel guitarist Rick Morse.